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Game 109: Red Sox at Yankees

Last night the Yankees picked up their first win of the season against the Boston Red Sox, tonight they go for their second and they will send out the following lineup via Pete Abe:

SS Derek Jeter

LF Johnny Damon

1B Mark Teixeira

3B Alex Rodriguez

DH Hideki Matsui

C Jorge Posada

2B Robinson Cano

RF Nick Swisher

CF Melky Cabrera

And on the mound, Allan James Burnett

Welcome back Ramiro, but why didn’t you bring Francisco with you?

Ramiro Pena has been recalled, and Anthony Claggett was optioned down to Scranton. It’s going to be nice to see Ramiro back, and Pena has been working on playing the outfield so he is now more versatile, but I can’t help but wonder do the Yankees really need him now that they have Hairston?

The Yankees acquire Chad Guadin

You probably already know this but just in case…The Yankees acquired Chad Gaudin from the San Diego Padres last night in exchange for a PTBNL. Gaudin will join the team on Sunday, and at that point a reliever is likely to be sent down. Supposedly the most likely candidates are David Robertson and Mark Melancon, who have both been pitching very well lately. If the Yankees are going to send one of the two aforementioned relievers down, my guess is that Melancon rides the shuttle to Scranton. But why are they the only candidates, what about Brian Bruney (or maybe they DL Bruney if he still isn’t “right”) or Ramiro Pena who as I mentioned above doesn’t seem to really be necessary. We will have to wait and see.

Just a little stat to throw at you to show how clutch Melky Cabrera is…in his career he is batting .311 in situations defined as “late and close” (the seventh inning or later with the batting team ahead by one, tied, or has the tying run on base, at bat or on deck) and in his career against the Red Sox he is batting .321 with 27 RBI’s.

Smoltz DFA’d

Earlier today the Red Sox DFA John Smoltz. To me it looks like his career might just be over, and he went out the hard way. Just think, John Smoltz last game was against the Yankees in the new Yankee Stadium and he got crushed. Now, who knows maybe somebody picks him up and he turns it around, he did put all this work into coming back from surgery so why stop now. But, by the sound of his post game interview, he sounds like someone who might be done. By the way, the Red Sox also DFA Billy Traber, they called up Junichi Tazawa, and they got Chris Woodward from Seattle to play short.